Quote from: TERA on February 28, 2014, 12:35:00 PM

Quote from: Ibian on February 28, 2014, 12:28:39 PM

Quote from: V2Rocket on February 28, 2014, 12:24:59 PM

The problem is this news affects the fence sitters, who'll be turned off. It also gives the regulators an excellent excuse to regulate bitcoin out of existence -- "Look, it's nothing but scammers and suckers."

As a bitcoin convert, *I* am not chomping at the bit to buy right now.

Bitcoin can't be killed by regulators. By design. For starters, it's global. No single country can makes rules for it, and global cooperation is not going to happen. Then there is the fact that it can't be killed. The tech is out there, all they can do is make it illegal which is not going to hurt the price. Which is why they won't do that either.

False. illegalization will kill most of the demand. Most bitcoiners are hobbyists and investors who will listen to their government rather than risking going to jail, and most people are not anarcho-libertarians.

Prohibition. Most drinkers were hobbyholics, not hardened gangsters. Which is why everyone stopped drinking and the price dropped.

Only reason people pay lip service to the law is because we are threatened with jail if we don't. It is very easy to use bitcoin anonymously for those so inclined, and there will always be somewhere in the world where using them is fully legal for those not adverse to relocating. Imagine, living like a king somewhere in SE asia because people in other countries are making you rich by breaking the law. However things go, the next years will be fascinating.